“We took strategic position that militants attempted to win back twice,” - 54th Brigade Commander Horbatiuk on Svitlodarsk battles

Russian militants committed two assault operations on Dec. 22 trying to recapture positions recently taken by the Ukrainian military near the village of Luhanske at the Svitlodarsk salient.

As reported by Censor.NET, Commander of the 54th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Horbatiuk told a correspondent for Hromadske TV explaining the strategic values of their positions.

"The enemy set out an offensive on our positions to seize the dominant terrain. We decided to use our counter attack to capture their position. What have we benefited of taking their position? They used the position we now hold to commit constant attacks on both our left and right flanks," he said.

"We occasionally sustained casualties. We now have six our men killed. I confirm these losses. But the losses incurred by the enemy are four times as high as ours because they were advancing. But the positions that we have taken are strategic," the brigade commander said.

He also added that positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were constantly fired upon from the points located on the dominant terrain.

"But we have taken positions that were used to attack us, which the enemy still cannot accept. We repulsed two attempts to storm them today. That's why this commanding point is strategically important for them," the serviceman summed up.

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